Working Group on Girls
Joanne Tobiessen, President
A collaboration (since the fall of 2004) of the LWV and AAUW in conjunction with representatives from numerous agencies in Schenectady, including The Boys and Girls Club, Capital Region BOCES, Carver APPS, Girls Inc., Girl Scouts, Niskayuna School District, PFLAG, Safe House, Schenectady City School District, Sexual Assault Support Services of PPMH, and students from Union College and Schenectady High School. Our mission statement is "working together to put the spotlight on girls and educate the community about their needs, challenges, opportunities and successes."
Last fall we published an update of our mentoring bookmark, with thanks to Girls Inc. and the Sexual Assault Support Services of PPMH for underwriting the printing costs. Twelve hundred bookmarks were distributed around the County to highlight mentoring and encourage volunteers to mentor through the locally listed programs.
We continued to focus this past year on the issue of bullying, learning more about it, speaking with a number of our school districts to understand what problems and solutions exist, and bringing together people concerned about bullying among girls. In the fall, we supported SCSD middle school programs for girls on bullying. Other valuable partnerships are occurring between our members working on projects of mutual interest that will benefit girls.
On May 14, 2008 we hosted our third community forum (this at the First Reformed Church in the Stockade) entitled `U R UGLY...When the Bully is a Girl.' With articles in the Gazette and TU as well as community notes twice in the Gazette, we had about 80 attendees. The program began with lively, true-to-life skits on bullying among girls acted by students from the SHS Peer Mediation Program. Cathy Welling, BOCES Bullying Prevention Coordinator, gave examples and talked about the difference between bullying and teasing, the different types of bullying, how parents can recognize if their child is a bully or bullied and how to respond, as well as the importance of being an `up-stander' rather than a by-stander. Jim Dillon, Principal at Lynwood Elementary School (GCSD) and author of `The Peaceful School Bus' spoke about the successful program he has initiated to build community and address the issue of bullying on the school bus. Mary Ann McGovern, former Youth Aid Detective with the Niskayuna Police Department and now Program Coordinator through the Center for Community Justice's Peer Mediation Program at Schenectady High School gave examples of cyber-bullying among girls and ways to respond. Extensive resources were available as well as a five page annotated resource list created by the WGG listing books, programs, web-sites, videos, etc. for parents, students and professionals. The Golub Foundation underwrote refreshments.
At our next meeting, Monday, June 2, at 3pm at Girls Inc., we'll discuss our focus for the coming year.
In addition to the representatives from other agencies and organizations, our League members include: Maxine Borom, Gwynne DeLong, Karen Draper, Betsy Forkas, Julia Helfman, Helga Schroeter, and Joanne Tobiessen.
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